How much does JoePa make?

HARRISBURG — The state retirement system must disclose the salaries of Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno and some of the school's top administrators, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

MARK SCOLFORO

HARRISBURG — The state retirement system must disclose the salaries of Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno and some of the school's top administrators, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

The 4-2 decision said a lower court that had ordered the disclosure properly balanced the public's interest in knowing details about retirement system finances against the effects disclosure might have on reputations and personal security.

The case was the result of a December 2002 request by a reporter for The Patriot-News in Harrisburg who sought the salaries of Paterno and three other Penn State officials from the State Employees' Retirement System.

The retirement board had granted the request, but disclosure was put on hold while the university appealed.

"We hold that the public does in fact have a right to such information to the extent necessary to justify all guaranteed disbursements from the fund," wrote Justice James J. Fitzgerald III for the majority.

Penn State issued a statement later Tuesday saying university officials would not pursue any further appeals.

It was not immediately clear when the information would be released. Retirement system spokesman Bob Gentzel had no immediate comment.

In addition to Paterno, the paper also sought information on vice president and provost Rodney Erickson, vice president and treasurer Gary Schultz and former budget officer Richard Althouse.

The ruling applies to their names, service histories and salaries, but does not include their addresses, phone numbers or Social Security numbers.

Penn State had said releasing salaries would be unfair to those hired with an understanding their pay would not be public, and that disclosure might harm morale or make it harder to recruit and retain talent.

"Individuals and private entities cannot reasonably expect the commonwealth to keep secrets from its citizens regarding the disbursement of public funds, past, present or future," Fitzgerald wrote. Information stops being private the moment someone voluntarily submits it to the state and obtains a financial benefit as a result, he wrote.

Pennsylvania Newspaper Association lawyer Melissa Bevan Melewsky said that aspect of Fitzgerald's opinion will probably make its way into future lawsuits over access to public records.

"I think it's also significant that the court acknowledged the important role of government transparency by stating 'transparency has been the responsibility of this government since its inception,'" she said.

The dissenting opinion by Chief Justice Ralph J. Cappy said the information Patriot-News reporter Jan Murphy sought did not qualify as a public record under the state's Right-to-Know Law.

"That information may become a public record at the time the retirement benefits are computed and paid by (the retirement system), but until that point, there has been no disbursement of public funds or even the anticipation of disbursement," Cappy said.

David Newhouse, executive editor of the Patriot-News, said he has always viewed the case as being about the public's right to know how public money is spent.

"It was never about Joe Paterno himself," Newhouse said. "Several Penn State officials chose to be part of the state pension system, and we felt that gave the public a right to know about those funds, and the courts agreed consistently,"

Penn State is classified as a "state-related" university and so is not subject to the Right-to-Know Law, but Paterno and the others are enrolled in the retirement system, which the law does cover. The school gets about 10 percent of its $3 billion-plus budget from the state.

The Legislature is currently considering bills that would extend the open records law to Penn State and the other three state-related universities: Temple, Lincoln and Pitt.

Justice Cynthia A. Baldwin, a Penn State trustee, did not participate in the case.

Paterno, 80, has been head coach for 42 years, a record for major college football. He holds records for bowl appearances (33) and postseason wins (22) and his 371 total victories put him two behind Florida State's Bobby Bowden for most among major college coaches.

There's been speculation for years that Paterno is among the highest paid coaches in college football.

Alabama's Nick Saban became the highest paid coach at $4 million per year when he was hired by the Crimson Tide after last season. Oklahoma's Bob Stoops makes over $3 million and several coaches, including Ohio State's Jim Tressel, Florida's Urban Meyer and South Carolina's Steve Spurrier make upward of $2 million annually.